Drawn game

chess

THIS IS A DIRECTORY PAGE. Britannica does not currently have an article on this topic.

Alternative Title:
draw

White to play and draw, a chess composition by Richard Réti (c. 1922)

Initially it appears that White is lost because the Black pawn can outrace the White king to its queening square at h1, while the Black king can easily intercept the White pawn on its way to its queening square at c8. However, by moving the White king diagonally, and thus closer at each move to both pawns, White can eventually force Black to choose between losing the Black pawn or stopping the White pawn. In either case (no pawns or two queens), the result is a theoretical draw.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Learn about this topic in these articles:

conditions for occurrence

…in chess: win, lose, or draw. There are six ways a draw can come about: (1) by mutual consent, (2) when neither player has enough pieces to deliver checkmate, (3) when one player can check the enemy king endlessly (perpetual check), (4) when a player who is not in check…